*Chapter xvi., v. 13. In the Douay this is translated, 'And she called
the name of the Lord that spoke unto her, thou the God who hast seen me;
for she said, verily here have I seen the hinder parts of him that seeth
me.' The reader will perceive a strange difference in the two texts. If
the Douay be the correct translation, where are the hinder parts of a
God who is without parts? (_vide_ thirty-nine articles).
*Chapter xvii., v. 1. 'And the Lord appeared to Abraham.' Verse 3. 'And
Abraham fell on his face.' Verse 17. 'Then Abraham fell on his face.'
Verse 23. 'And he left off talking with him; and God went up from
Abraham.'
The intent of this chapter is to induce a belief that the Lord appeared
in person to Abraham; and that, after he had talked with him for some
time, he left and went _up_. It is also intended to convey that
Abraham showed his respect to the Lord bv falling down before him; and,
according to the Douay, 'flat on his face.' I have before remarked on
this going up and coming down, which is utterly inconsistent with any
idea of an infinite and omnipotent God. I do not wish to fill my pages
with mere repetitions, and shall, therefore, at once deal with Genesis,
chap, xvii., v. 1 and 22, chap, xviii., v. 1, 2, 7, and 8, chap, xxii.,
v. 11 and 15, chap, xxvi., v. 2 and 24, chap. xxviii., v. 13, chap,
xxxii., v. 30, and chap, xxxv., v. 7, 9, and 13. It is quite clear
that the author of these verses in Genesis considered not only God was
material, and could be seen, but also considered God in the light of a
superior or more powerful being than man, yet of somewhat the same form
and passions. Man is represented as made in the image of God. Men, Gods,
and Angels are strangely confused together; angels are spoken of in
three characters--viz., as intermediatory messengers, as inferior Gods,
and as God. This would be sufficient of itself to cause great confusion.
God is spoken of in this book as eating, talking, walking, going up and
down, grieving, repenting, and swearing, making impossible covenants and
never keeping them, fearing lest man should eat of the tree of life and
live for ever, or that he should build a tower which should reach
to heaven. In the eighteenth chapter, the terms 'Angels,' 'Men,' and
'Lord,' are indiscriminately used in reference to the same persons.
In the twenty-second chapter, the angel of the Lord calls from heaven to
Abraham. What are angels? Voltaire says--
'Angel, in Greek, _envoy_. The reader will hardly be the wiser for being
told that the Persians had their _peris_, the Hebrews their _melakim_,
and the Greeks their _demonoi_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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